Numerous laboratory conducted cell-based assays ranging from cell growth, seeding, cell feeding and washing to in-plate differentiation of pluropotential stem cells rely on the use of a cell culture plate for containing multiple independent culture specimens during manipulation. As shown in FIG. 1, a typical cell culture plate 30 simply comprises a plurality of individual specimen wells 31 arranged and dependently supported atop a unitary base 32. While normally stored within an incubator or other temperature controlled environment—typically at or about a temperature of 37° C., the cell culture plate 30 and its contents must generally be removed from such a temperature controlled environment in order that a scientist or other laboratory worker may analyze or manipulate the specimens carried by the cell culture plate 30.
Although the foregoing procedure is generally adequate for work conducted by experienced laboratory personnel working with robust specimens, it is found by Applicant to be inadequate under at least a number of circumstances. In one example, it is noted that some cellular tissues, including in particular, pluropotential stem cells, are quite sensitive to temperature deviations, where for exposure for even a short duration to typical room temperature may be expected to cause cellular degradation and possibly mortality. While in many cases this operating parameter may enable an experienced laboratory worker to successfully conduct a required task, it is also noted that such cells as pluropotential stem cells are very difficult to obtain and, consequently, are very valuable. As a result, it would be to the benefit of even experienced laboratory personnel to have available a method and apparatus for maintaining such tissue specimens at a desired temperature during analysis or manipulation.
In a further example applicable to many types of living specimens, it is noted that student scientists are very often unable to complete an analysis, experiment or manipulation in the short period of time that a tissue sample remains viable outside of incubation. In these cases, the learning process can quickly become frustrating as the motivation of success is repeatedly taken away or errors in laboratory procedures are created by the need to rush through an experiment. Still further, however, it is noted that even in situations where students have attained the laboratory skills required to work quickly, the limited viability time is an impossible constraint on the instructor, preventing individual work with students for fear that in the time that it takes to help one student an entire classroom of experiments may be lost.
With the forgoing disadvantages of the prior art clearly in mind, it is therefore an overriding object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus by which tissue samples may be analyzed or manipulated outside of an incubator or otherwise temperature controlled general environment with eliminated or reduced risk for temperature related cell death. Additionally, it is an object of the present invention to provide such a method and apparatus that is inexpensive to implement and simple to use, thereby making such a method and apparatus generally available for use across the full spectrum of laboratory environments from fully funded research facilities to minimally supported school programs.